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jdw

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From what I have gathered on Twitter so far

 

- Subscriber numbers at 700,000 at end of Q2
- Loss of $14.5M for Q2
- New offer: $19.99 if you want to just sign up for the month
- WWE Network coming to Canada, Australia, NZ, Spain and a lot more countries on 8/12
- WWE Network coming to UK in October
- WWE announced 10 year deal with Rogers for Raw & SD

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- WWE Network coming to Canada, Australia, NZ, Spain and a lot more countries on 8/12

 

- WWE announced 10 year deal with Rogers for Raw & SD

 

10 year deal also includes WWE Network distribution as a traditional ala carte Pay TV channel, as well as distribution rights for the PPVs. So far, we're the only country to have that, which reminds me of what the CEO of Netflix said about our country's internet back in the day. ;)

 

Also really makes me wonder what kind of "WWE Network" we get versus what the US gets, or any other country. Knowing Rogers, it wouldn't shock me if the PPVs are separate some how. Free preview starts Aug. 12, with SummerSlam on Aug. 17, so will know better than, but given the differences between Canada and the US as far as distribution in various media goes, I'm expecting a slightly greater WWE Classics on Demand for us.

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I was so disappointed when I signed up for Netlfix for the first time two years ago. The Canadian Netflix has a lot to choose from but I'm guessing it is nowhere near the selection that the US has. WWE Network Canada having a reduced selection like Netflix never occurred to me until a couple of days ago. I think we are all hoping that WWE Network in Canada doesn't end up with one third the number of titles offered like Canadian Netflix offers.

 

Maybe we will also get stuck with some sort of Can-Con quota. I don't know if WWE owns any of the Canadian tape libraries. Will Canadians be able to watch WWE Network on video game consoles? It sounds like all we get is the channel while saying nothing about the streaming menu of shows that is available in the US.

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From Dave's recap:

 

"The cutbacks are so significant that they now feel they can break even on 500,000 subscribers in 2015 as opposed to 1.4 million subscribers and at 1.5 million subscribers they will have OIBDA of $100 million to $120 million, which is more than they had pre-network."

 

I haven't looked at the math yet, but that seems a bit suspicious.

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Where are you Marty, in the UK? If so, my gut tells me it will feature a lot less content.

 

I'm in Canada. And yeah, I have my fears, for the same reasons Ryan just stated.

 

Apparently the channel we'll initially get is a Network preview at $11.99 a month. I have no idea how well that'll work up here.

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From Dave's recap:

 

"The cutbacks are so significant that they now feel they can break even on 500,000 subscribers in 2015 as opposed to 1.4 million subscribers and at 1.5 million subscribers they will have OIBDA of $100 million to $120 million, which is more than they had pre-network."

 

I haven't looked at the math yet, but that seems a bit suspicious.

 

Well, do you have any idea of the scope of the cutbacks?

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http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/38247-dave-meltzer-notes-from-wwe-conference-call

 

*There wll be massive cost cutting internally. These costs will save the company $10 million this year and $30 million in 2015.

 

*The cutting wasn't specified past a seven percent reduction in the workforce. It was noted that with the reduction in the work force, there will be a one-time loss of $4.5 million for severance packages taken during the current third quarter.

 

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With a net gain of 30,000 I was right on the money with my predictions.

 

The quarterly gain is a positive: 161K. If they happened to add 150K a quarter for 450K over the last three quarters, that would more than hit their 1M goal.

 

On the other hand...

 

The cancellation issue *is* a big issue. The rate is something that can't be explained away by people's cc's expiring, which is going to be a certain number every month anyway. That number is a pretty clear sign of people pro-actively getting out of their monthly billing, just looking to bag Mania at a cheap rate.

 

Three things come to mind:

 

* consumers are smarter than Vince thinks

* consumers are getting cheaper all the time

 

Semi-related. It's part of the modern world on the heels of the net where people want content for free/cheap. They are consistently getting smarter at figuring out how to get cheap/free stuff, and how to game the system.

 

* the WWE has done a shitty job on Network Content to hold subs

 

The business model, which was up in the air for years as this was developed, suddenly jerked over in the direction of "Include All The PPV!" In concept, it was a pretty brilliant idea. Cut out the cable company middle men to keep more of the revenue. Give "great value" to subs. It's content that gets churned out every month anyway, so it's not a massive production cost being added. Brilliant!

 

Problem is the WWE PPV's are a big draw in the US anymore on a consistent basis. Mania is... and this proved it once again. But on a month-in, month-out basis, they really aren't. So it's Great Value in concept, but not one that people are breaking down the doors that they must have it every month at the cost of $9.99.

 

Which lead to the issue of them still needing to have in place regular content that attracts and retains subs. Once a month programing isn't enough.

 

* * * * *

 

Is the model going to change to increase content that might attract and hold subs?

 

Seems more likely that it will go in the other direction. Cost cutting, and a reduction in the number of subs needed to break even / make money.

 

That's not really a good sign to believe that the Network is going to blossom to the fullest of what any of us hopped. Perhaps down the road, but seems unlikely now. Instead it's more likely that the Network is going to be treated more bare bones. :/

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Upon further review it looks like we don't even get Rogers as a cable provider here in Thunder Bay. There is no way I will put money down on a premium cable channel-only-style network. $9.99 (or is it more?) every month for what amounts to WWE Vintage (a classics show that airs weekly in Canada) is never going to fly with the wife. She doesn't mind the wrestling. She doesn't even mind the stuff she can't understand like the Japanese/Mexican/indies. There is no channel on its own that is worth paying that much for. A reduced Netflix is one thing. At least with Canuckified Netflix there are options at any time.

 

The WWE Network can eat my ass.

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this is from Meltzer's daily update, with a credit to our very own Bix:

 

 


--Regarding Canada and the WWE/Rogers deal, an update from our audio earlier is that there will be no Internet component of the WWE Network in Canada at first. It will be strictly a television station distributed by Rogers, available through Rogers cable. Other cable providers in Canada will have it offered and will have to go through Rogers for the rights. The live stream will air the same as everywhere else. There will be a on-demand component, but it will have less content than the streaming network library. Exactly what will be available is not known yet. The plan is to introduce the network on the Internet at some point in 2015. (thanks to Dave Bixenspan)

 

So, live stream channel + some on demand content, then the "over the top" Network as we have it in the states in 2015

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One point that got lost in translation to Dave in relaying the information that I got from WWE is that even in 2015, the online portion of the Canadian service will only be available to subscribers to the cable service. It will be their equivalent of HBO Go or Showtime Anytime.

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